1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc device for CDs, DVDs, and the like, and more particularly, to a disc ejection means for ejecting a disc from the disc device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional disc device of a slot-in loading type, a disc is loaded and ejected by a feeding force of a feeding roller serving as a disc conveyor means that is disposed near a loading slot.
This disc device is further divided into, for example, a type in which a disc is clamped between a feeding roller and a driven roller disposed parallel to the feeding roller, and a type in which a disc is clamped between a feeding roller and a disc guide member disposed on a top plate of the disc device or the like.
In the conventional disc device, a disc inserted from the loading slot is conveyed to a disc driving section in the inner part of the device by a forward feeding force of the feeding roller to be laid on a turntable in the disc driving section. Then, a disc conveyor means is retracted away from the disc, and a clamper moves down, whereby the disc is clamped between the clamper and the turntable. Subsequently, a predetermined rotation is applied to the disc by a spindle motor, and a pickup performs disc playback or recording.
When ejecting the disc, the rotation of the spindle motor is stopped, and the damper moves up, thereby releasing the disc. Moreover, the disc is clamped again by the disc conveyor means, is ejected from the disc driving section by reversely rotating the feeding roller, and is then ejected from the loading slot to the outside of the disc device.
In the above-described disc device, however, loading and ejection of the disc is performed by the same disc conveyor means, and therefore, disc exchange takes much time. That is, for the purpose of disc change, there is a need to eject the existing disc (first disc), which has undergone playback or recording, to the outside and to subsequently insert a new disc (second disc) into the disc device. Furthermore, since the existing disc and the new disc are manually switched outside the disc device, such disc exchange requires much time and labor.
In order to solve such problems, it may be possible to shorten disc switching time by separating a disc loading device and a disc ejection device so that a new disc is loaded by the disc loading device, and simultaneously, the existing disc is ejected by the disc ejection device. In this case, it is necessary to perform the disc switching operation inside the disc device to avoid troublesome disc exchange.
It is, however, a problem as to which disc ejection device is to be used to eject the disc.